Justice Department sued Harvard to compel production of admissions data

On February 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Harvard University in federal court in Massachusetts, asking a judge to order Harvard to turn over admissions records the department has demanded since opening a compliance review in April 2025. The lawsuit alleges Harvard repeatedly slow-walked production and refused to produce individualized applicant admissions data, admissions policies, and correspondence related to race, ethnicity, and diversity, equity and inclusion -- material DOJ says it needs to determine whether Harvard continued considering applicants' race in admissions after the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College barred the practice. DOJ had requested five years of undergraduate, medical-school, and law-school admissions data, including grades, test scores, essays, extracurricular activities, admissions outcomes, and race/ethnicity, by April 25, 2025; DOJ says Harvard has not complied.

"Under President Trump's leadership, this Department of Justice is demanding better from our nation's educational institutions," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the suit. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, called Harvard's refusal "a red flag": "If Harvard has stopped discriminating, it should happily share the data necessary to prove it."

Harvard said in a statement that it has been responding to the government's requests and is in compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling, and cast the suit as "retaliatory actions" initiated "simply because Harvard refused to surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights in response to unlawful government overreach." The suit follows a rekindled dispute in which President Trump said Harvard must pay $1 billion -- double his earlier demand -- as part of any settlement, and comes after billions of dollars in funding cuts and other sanctions the administration imposed on Harvard in 2025 for rejecting a list of the administration's demands.

Updates

2026-04-14 — Harvard filed answer disputing DOJ's lawsuit [4][5]

Harvard filed a 20-page answer in U.S. District Court disputing DOJ's characterization of the case, stating it had already produced more than 2,000 pages of documents and calling the suit "ill-conceived" and retaliatory -- filed, Harvard said, "to make an example of Harvard and generate headlines." Harvard argued DOJ abandoned negotiations and proceeded to litigation without following required Title VI procedures.

2026-06-03 — Harvard moved to dismiss the lawsuit [6][7]

Harvard filed a motion to dismiss, arguing federal agencies "rushed to court without following Title VI enforcement procedures," including failing to make "a good-faith effort to secure voluntary compliance" before suing. Harvard alternatively asked the court to pause the case pending a separate lawsuit brought by 17 states challenging the Department of Education's data-collection expansion.